Crime project a humanitarian mission

Thursday

Nov 15, 2012 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - More than 300 people from all over Stockton came to a south Stockton church Wednesday to learn about Operation Ceasefire, which city leaders have chosen as a method to reduce violence in the city.

Dana M. Nichols

STOCKTON - More than 300 people from all over Stockton came to a south Stockton church Wednesday to learn about Operation Ceasefire, which city leaders have chosen as a method to reduce violence in the city.

The Operation Ceasefire system is credited with reducing the number of killings in cities across the United States, including, in the 1990s, Stockton. But Ceasefire is as much a spiritual and humanitarian mission as it is a government program, said those who have seen it stop the killing in their communities.

"We need to do more than pray," said the Rev. Jeffrey Brown of Boston's TenPoint Coalition. Boston was the city where Ceasefire was invented to combat a rise in street violence in the early 1990s.

"Join this movement," Brown urged those at the meeting. "Stockton can be turned around. We did it in Boston. We had a 29-month period when we had no juvenile homicides."

By the end of Brown's presentation, many in the audience were saying "Amen."

Stewart Wakeling, director of the Oakland-based California Partnership for Safe Communities, worked in Stockton in the 1990s when Ceasefire helped reduce street violence. Wakeling explained the details of how community members can deliver a strong anti-violence message to the young men who are most at risk of engaging in violence.

Wakeling warned that it is difficult work and requires government, law enforcement, communities of faith and others to work together in ways they might not have previously.

It often requires going to great lengths to show respect toward those who are at risk of being violent and supporting them when they choose to step away from violence, Wakeling said.

"It takes patience," Wakeling said. "We can't roll this out in one day or even one month."

Still, some elements of Ceasefire - such as church members regularly taking evening walks through neighborhoods to establish connections with young people hanging out on the streets - are already being implemented in Stockton.

"In March 2012, we began to walk," said Pastor Curtis Smith of Destiny Christian Center in Stockton.

One key, Smith said, is to see people on neighborhood streets as God sees them. "We don't see them as drug dealers. We don't see them as criminals."

Smith said walks he and other congregation members have been taking in the Kentfield/Bianchi neighborhood already have helped reduce the number of police calls there.

Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones and Mayor Ann Johnston spoke during the town hall meeting and were clearly thrilled to see so many Stockton residents eager to learn about Operation Ceasefire.

"Each one of us has a part to play," Johnston said.

Officials said a slide show from Wednesday night's presentation would be posted today on the Stockton Police Department's Facebook page.